USIBC appoints Vijay Advani as new Chair of Global Board

PTI, Feb 22, 2020, 9:51 AM IST

New Delhi: The US-India Business Council on Friday said it has appointed Vijay Advani as new Chair of its Global Board of Directors.

Advani has taken the charge as Board Chair at a time of significant growth in US-India bilateral trade, which reached USD 160 billion in 2019.

Prior to assuming his current role as Executive Chairman in January 2020, Advani served as the CEO of Nuveen. Earlier, he was also Co-President of Franklin Templeton Investments.

Advani has spent over a decade at the World Bank, advising governments on developing financial markets and arranging equity, quasi-equity and debt financing.

“I am humbled and truly excited to serve as Chairman of Global Board of Directors at this critical juncture of the relationship between the US and India in trade, defence, manufacturing and culture,” Advani said.

The council also announced two new members of the Global Board of Directors – Lockheed Martin International Senior Vice President Tim Cahill and GE South Asia President & CEO Mahesh Palashikar.

As Senior Vice President, Tim Cahill leads Lockheed Martin’s development and execution of international business strategy across 70 countries. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Integrated Air and Missile Defense, where he was responsible for programme execution of the entire portfolio, including Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) System, Patriot PAC-3 Missile, TLVS, and Falcon Ground-Based Air Defense among others.

He previously served as vice president of Strategic and Missile Defense Systems and Engineering & Technology for Lockheed Martin Space.

Palashikar is a 20-year GE veteran who has worked in a variety of roles focused on manufacturing operations, global supply chains, quality, lean six sigma, sales, projects and services within GE’s Healthcare, Power and Renewable Energy businesses.

Most recently, he served as CEO of GE’s Onshore Wind business for the Asia Pacific region.

US India Business Council (USIBC) represents top global companies operating across the United States, India, and Indo-Pacific.